NZ Herald on Uber

It is a brave regulator who would claim official licensing paperwork is superior to the constant customer assessments that are commonly available for internet-based services. If the service is making available to users the impressions, observations and experiences of previous passengers, these would be a far more searching and reliable measure of safety than the routine checks of departmental registers. Police and medical records will not contain more than a fraction of those who might not be suitable, and will bar some who have outgrown youthful crimes.

The internet is making many activities safer, and Uber is no exception. Its app provides regular checks on where the vehicle is and the route it is taking. Its lower costs and online payment system make it attractive to many, but not to everybody. Some people do not like the idea of riding in a car that feels like what it is: a stranger’s personal or family vehicle. There will continue to be a market for well-presented commercial taxis in which the passenger can preserve the detachment of a paying customer.

Traditional taxi operators insist Uber drivers should be subject to the same licensing requirements they face. The Transport Minister seems to agree with them. But his only concern should be public safety.

He needs to ask whether licensing procedures devised in a pre-digital age are still warranted when passengers carry personal tracking transmitters and mobile movie cameras and, perhaps more important, every driver knows it. It should not be taking three months and thousands of dollars, or even hundred of dollars, for people to become an Uber driver.

If conventional taxi firms feel this is required for public safety, they can continue to require P endorsements – and promote the fact they offer that level of safety, for what it is worth. Uber is equally confident its screening procedure is sufficient for “the safety outcomes the travelling public want and expect”. It wants to help the Government find a more flexible licensing framework, one more in tune with the future.

What would be interesting is to do an experiment. Allow both models of “safety” and see at the end of a year which has had the fewest incidents.

Related Stories

Comments (20)

dcrane

“If the service is making available to users the impressions, observations and experiences of previous passengers, these would be a far more searching and reliable measure of safety than the routine checks of departmental registers”

For that to be correct, the comments and reviews can’t be contaminated by paid shills, or selectively deleted by the company in question (who presumably controls the website), or distorted by sampling error. Sometimes it feels to me like it’s only becoming more difficult over time to find good information about products online. I haven’t used Uber so I can’t speak about their system, however.

G152

What would be interesting is to do an experiment. Allow both models of “safety”…

The very word ‘Allow’ makes me nauseous. The idea that like kindergartners we have to have someone give us permission to make our own decisions about something as mundane as whose car to get into is pure infantilisation.

New Zealand’s response to Uber has, to date, been exemplary. Unlike most countries, New Zealand already had a largely de-regulated taxi market. Rather than ban Uber, or let it operate under different rules, NZ is moving to embrace the new technology, relaxing rules that applied to conventional taxis to give a level playing field. The new regulations ensure the same public safety rules apply to all. Who was most unhappy? Uber of course, who effectively lose their competitive advantage. As I understand it, they have responded by making it easier to be a Uber driver (and thus cutting the amount the driver need be paid). Passenger ‘likes’ are no substitute for a police check. NZTA should commit to reviewing the P license procedure and ensuring it is not overly onerous, but Uber needs to obey the law in the meantime.

Boris Piscina

Personally I’d rather pay the extra and have a large clean comfortable modern cab with all the extras, and a respectable driver who wears a suit and speaks English as a first language, than go cheap and get some scruffy amateur with no guaranteed pedigree, or a recent migrant from Africa or the sub-Continent driving an import hybrid that smells of fish curry….hence I stick with Corporate.

JamesP

It is a brave regulator who would claim official licensing paperwork is superior to the constant customer assessments that are commonly available for internet-based services.
It’s the typical journalist who compares apples and oranges. The license doesn’t measure your subsequent performance. The customer ratings don’t speak to your background or training. Assuming you could only pick one (not a given) which is better? Debatable, but they are fundamentally different approaches.

Agree with Boris,
I have number of women staff members who fly into Wellington sometimes late at night as part of their professional lives and I will not allow them to catch anything other than Corporate to get them home again. Peace of mind for me and encouragement for a damned good set of taxi drivers.

Tookinator

A couple of things…

Safety: The person being picked up gets a text telling them the vehicle model, colour and rego number as well as a photo of the driver. Uber know who the driver and pax are: the route is logged via GPS. The passenger is asked to rate the driver after every trip. If the Uber driver gets less than 3 stars on average or a couple of complaints they are kicked off Uber.
No cash transactions so no cash in car.

Taxi: Many times we hear in the press (and this happened to a girl I know recently) about a taxi driver sexually assaulting the pax.
In the case of the girl I know, she was so distressed and got out of the car. she did not know the taxi company and didn’t think to get his number at the time. Can’t happen with Uber as they can’t be ‘hailed down’ on the street it is all prearranged.
On balance I think Uber is safer.

If you get a rude, late, incompetent taxi driver and report it to the taxi company what do they do about it? We all know the answer to that. But again if it happens on Uber you get kicked out.

Likewise, mentioned above about state of car. With Uber it has to be spotless and the driver has to be perfect host otherwise it is back to poor rating from the passenger again and a chance of being kicked off.

Uber vehicles must have insurance
Checks are done on your criminal history and driving licence record (Speeding, fines, poor driving etc.) before you can join uber

Doggie

Had a friend who relies heavily on the Internet for her business. She had a period where she kept finding herself locked out of her ISP account and could not log on. Turned out a competitor was using the account lockout feature by deliberately trying to login to her account with a deliberately wrong password knowing that after so many attempts the account becomes locked. Took quite a while to sort out. TripAdvisor is known to be manipulated both positively and negatively and you can guess who is doing what. So relying on the Internet to provide the truth maybe asking a bit much.

Had a friend who relies heavily on the Internet for her business. She had a period where she kept finding herself locked out of her ISP account and could not log on. Turned out a competitor was using the account lockout feature by deliberately trying to login to her account with a deliberately wrong password knowing that after so many attempts the account becomes locked. Took quite a while to sort out. TripAdvisor is known to be manipulated both positively and negatively and you can guess who is doing what. So relying on the Internet to provide the truth maybe asking a bit much.
=====================================================
She needs better protection.

deadrightkev

This is the state at its very worst. Labour or National, same Marxist control different day.

If I want to hop into a taxi or an Uber its my business so fuck off politicians. Uber is better by far. I don’t want to be overcharged for the privilege of being in a licensed vehicle with a Muslim driver who hates me. Who believes National will be capable of making an adult decision? Not me. The passenger will pay as usual.

Boris

What you would personally do is the point. You personally should be the only one making the decision.

sooty

freedom101

Simon Bridges gets a 2 out of 10 for his response re Uber. Rather than threatening to ban Uber he should be relaxing taxi industry regulations. It’s very worrying that his basic instincts are so off beam. Whatever happened to the ‘liberal’ National Party? Only David Seymour makes sense on this issue.

Jim

As a sometimes Uber user: it’s great to have that choice. I use taxis whenever they are ‘better’ and Uber other times. That tends to differ by country/state but by default I just prefer Uber.

In my current home city I use taxis because I know exactly what I’m expecting, there’s always a few hanging outside my apartment, and they are lower cost than Uber.

But to the point of whether or not some government paperwork exists for the driver – and does that make me feel safer? Absolutely not! In fact the diciest rides I’ve ever taken were in a TAXI. Speeding, swerving, rapid acceleration and braking, swearing driver: I know I’m in a taxi (except Japan where taxi drivers are universally awesome). Uber has been way above average as far as all that is concerned.

And specifically New Zealand: the government and regulatory authorities are absolutely bureaucratic but when it comes to criminals they are a soft touch. No doubt there is somewhere for dodgy crimmigrants to appeal their being excluded from a P license because won’t someone think of their children!.